Osun rerun: Vote your conscience, group urges Osun people
Conscience
By Taiye Agbaje
Abuja, Sept. 26, 2018 (NAN) The National Coordinator, Proactive Gender Initiatives (PGI), Esther Uzoma, has urged the people of Osun to vote their conscience in Thursday’s governorship rerun election in the state.
Uzoma, who made the call on Wednesday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, also called on the political actors to abide by the rules of the game.
According to her, the people of Osun should realise that the state is bigger than any political party.
‘’I will advise the Osun people to vote knowing that their conscience is bigger than any money that anybody will offer them. Let them vote their conscience.
‘’I will also advise all the stakeholders to abide by the rules of the game.
‘’Therefore, the excesses, the exuberance of political parties must not jeopardise the interest of Osun people.
‘’The Osun people should go out on Thursday, queue up quietly and vote.
‘’They should not let the political actors disrupt the holding of peaceful election in the affected polling units,” she said.
Uzoma, who is also a legal practitioner, enjoined the police and officers of other security agencies that would be deployed for the poll to ensure good conduct.
‘’My advice to the security agencies is to ensure that they are not destructive.
‘’They should conduct themselves in a professional manner just like they did on Sept. 22; they maintained law and order and even arrested some vote buyers and vote sellers.
‘’I will expect the Nigeria Police to up their game and ensure that the election is not disrupted,” she said.
NAN reports that INEC had declared the governorship election in Osun inconclusive because “the margin between the two leading candidates is 353, which is lower than the number of registered voters in the affected areas”.
The rerun election slated for Thursday is to hold in seven polling units across four local government areas.
The Returning Officer and Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), Prof. Joseph Fuwape, said Sen. Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) scored 254,698 votes, while Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC) scored 254, 345 votes and Sen. Iyiola Omisore of Social Democratic Party (SDP) followed with 128,049.
Prof Fuwape said “Based on the results collated by the Returning Officer, the margin between the two leading candidates is 353 which is lower than the number of registered voters in the affected areas.
Extant law and INEC Guidelines and Regulations provide that where such a situation occurs, a declaration may not be made. (NAN)
TOA/AMY
Edited by Abdullahi Yusuf